US stock market, economy and companies update (November 14, 2013)

- The DJIA and S&P500 closed at record highs yesterday afternoon and are seeing more gains this morning, despite the weak earnings performances of Cisco and Walmart. As of writing, the DJIA is up 0.26%, the S&P500 is up 0.23% and the Nasdaq is down 0.1%.

- Fed Chair nominee Yellen has begun testimony before the Senate this morning. Her prepared remarks were released yesterday afternoon, in which she reiterated familiar positions: unemployment remains too high, inflation is well below the 2% target and QE cannot go on forever. The WSJ's Hilsenrath published a piece asserting that the FOMC is closer to lowering its unemployment threshold to 5.5% or 6.0% from 6.5% presently, in its quest to keep interest rates low even as it rolls back QE.

- The September US trade deficit widened more than expected in September as imports rose to their highest level in almost a year. The trade gap increased 8.0% to $41.8 billion, the largest since May. New jobless claims fell a bit last week, but not as much as expected.

- Shares of Cisco are down 12% this morning after the company reported lower-than-expected Q1 revenue and offered very weak Q2 revenue guidance. Executives warned that this revenue downturn is different from the slide seen in early 2009, citing softness in telecom demand in emerging markets. Additionally, Cisco said this demand slowdown will be felt across the industry. HPQ is down nearly 6% in sympathy.

- Mega retailer Walmart's Q3 earnings report failed to impress the street and shares of WMT declined about 1% in the premarket session. Walmart more or less met expectations in the quarter and trimmed the top end of its FY14 guidance range. Comps were down slightly with the exception of Sam's Club. Meanwhile department store name Kohls is down nearly 9% after it missed top- and bottom-line expectations and cut its full-year forecast.

- Viacom had solid Q4 results and shares gained in the premarket. However on the conference call, Viacom offered Q1 ad revenue guidance that is being perceived as soft, sending VIA down to -1% or so on the session. Executives also said they expect significant improvement in full-year ad sales growth in FY14.